Island



UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICE.

JOHN A. WADSWTORTH, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

ELASTIC rnssARY.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. VVADswoRrH, of Providence, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and ImprovedInstrument for the Iteduction and Cure of Prolapsus Ut-eri; and I herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact description thereof,allusion being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters ofreference marked thereon.

The instrument, to which, in accordance with its immediate operation, Ihave given the name of uterine elevator, may be said, (for the purposeof rendering my description more intelligible) to consist of eight partsor divisions, viz., A cup, B stem, O supporter, D front strap, E backstrap, F side strap, Gr hip strap, and H shoulder strap; all of whichare represented in three views; viz., lateral, front, and back views.

Figure l, gives a lateral view of the instrument in its position when inuse. Fig. 2, represents the portion of the instrument affixed to thefront of the patient; and in Fig. 3, are seen such parts of theinstrument as belong to the back of the patient.

The cup is made of some very soft and elastic substance, like vulcanizedcaoutchouc. It is, in form, like an ordinary church bell inverted, andof such internal diameter and depth as to receive, and tit closely thewhole of the cervix uteri of the patient, and permit .the uterus,itself, to press upon its upper portion. The cup, at its margin, isabout the one sixtieth part of an inch thick, and is gradually increasedin thickness from the margin toward the bottom of it, where it is aboutone tenth of an inch thick. In the center of its bottom is an apertureof an eighth of an inch diameter.

The stem is a straight tube, its external diameter is half an inch, andits internal diameter one-eighth of an inch, and it is not far fromthree inches long.

The supporter is a straight tube, twenty inches long, tive-eighths of aninch external diameter, and three-eighths of an inch internal diameter,and has permanently fastened on each of its extremities a piece ofnarrow webbing, about three inches long, with a button sewed upon it.The stem and supporter should be made of the same sort of material asthe cup. One end of the stem is joined to the bottom of. the cup, insuch manner that its cavity coincides with the aperture in the bottom ofthe cup, and

26,941, dated January 24, 1860.

the other end is connected with the supporter, near its center from endto end. I make the cup and stem in one piece, and connect lthe bottomend of the stem with the supporter by a socket which has a ferrulesecured to it, and at right angles with it, by small studs, that keepthe ferrule one-eighth of an inch oi the bottom of the socket. I theninvert the bottom end of the stem into the socket, and secure it thereby cement or otherwise, and pass the supporter through the ferrule,which is of such size as to embrace the supporter closely. The socketand ferrule should be made of gold, or some other metal thickly platedwith gold. The socket has a small hole in the bottom of it correspondingwith the cavity in the stem.

Fig. 4, represents a central and vertical section of the above describedportion of the instrument, all of full size; the supporter, however, iscurved as in use.

The front strap is a piece of elastic webbing, two inches wide and fiveinches long; a button is sewed on each corner of one end of it, andseveral button holes, at different distances from, yet near, the otherend, are made along the center of the strap; the end having the buttonsupon it is the upper end.

The back strap, is made of webbing, eighteen inches long; three inchesof one end, and six inches of the other end of it are two inches wide,and made of elastic mate-l rial; the central portion of the strap isnonelastic. A button is sewed on each corner of the end of the shorterbit of elastic material, and other two buttons are sewed on the sameside of the strap, two inches distant from the buttons already placedthere, and this is the upper end of the strap. Several button holes aremade at a little distance from each other, in the other end of thestrap; and immediately above them, on the elastic part, two buttons areaffixed, one opposite the other, and both on the same side of the strapwith the buttons at the other end of it.

The two side straps are made of webbing, each, one inch wide, and twentyfour inches long, having one button hole in one end, several buttonholes in the other end, and half dozen buttons on the same side, nearthe middle of it.

The two hip straps are made of webbing also, one inch wide, and fourteeninches long. They have one button hole at one end, and several at theother end of them.

The two shoulder straps, are precisely like the side straps, with theexception of the buttons.

The application of the instrument is thus made: I rst ascertain if thecervix uteri is pendent; if it is not, I place the uterus in its naturalattitude. After which I apply the cup, so as to embrace, in its cavity,the cervix uteri, and then by gentle pressure I raise the uterus to itsproper place, and in order to keep it there, I put a shoulder strap onone of the shoulders of the patient, and button it to the upper end ofthe back strap. Then I pass thel remaining shoulder strap over the othershoulder, and confine it by its appropriate button on the back strap,after which, button a side strap to a lower button on the upper end oneend of a hip strap to a side strap, near the shoulder strap, and thenbutton the other end of the hip strap upon the lower end of the backstrap. The other hip strap should be placed in a corresponding mannerupon the other side of the patient. The front end of the supporter is tobe buttoned to the front strap, and the other end to the back strap; Ithen slide the stem (if necessary) along on the supporter, to its properplace, and all is completed.

The different parts of the instrument, are to be varied from the abovedimensions, so as to lit the size of the patient.

It will be seen by the above, that l. I claim for my invention thepeculiar Jform, and peculiar size, combined with great softness andelasticity, of the cup. Y

2. I claim also vthe method by'which the cup is kept in position,substantially as above specified. v

JOHN A. WADSWORTH.

Witnesses:

JAMES TILLINGHAST, GEORGE ALDRICH.

